How To Talk About Race?

by mathinaz

Hey Teacher Community,

My school is trying to start dialogue on our staff about race, class, privilege, and how our own identities affect our classrooms. We have an extremely diverse group of students and a predominately white staff, and some of our teachers have expressed interest in gaining more awareness about the various issues that should be considered in a diverse community.

Does anyone have resources on how to most productively engage in these conversations? Many of our staff members have never really thought about these things in a deep way before, so we need to find out how to introduce important ideas in a way that is effective without just making people feel defensive and shutting down.

Resources or just general advice would be really appreciated, either in the comments or to [email protected]

5 Responses

Wess

The first book that comes to mind about race and identity development is Dr. Beverly Tatum’s “Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” I know I had to read parts of it as TFA pre-reading, and I’m not sure whether you did the same. I’ve heard the book criticized for being too gentle to the white audience it’s written for, but I don’t think it leaves anything crucial out (haven’t read it for a while, though). I know also that TFA has a conversation series based on this book that staff members currently take part in–I haven’t seen it and don’t know how to access it, but I wonder whether you could use resources from that?

You could use pieces from “Critical Race Theory Matters: Education and Ideology” by Margaret Zamudio. The last four chapters have some really deliciously great counter-narratives that bring up a lot of CRT concepts without being too dry or theoretical. Other books on my list (I haven’t read these yet, but I know they’re worth looking at): Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” Tim Wise’s “White Like Me: reflections from a privileged son,” and James Loewen’s “Lies My Teacher Told Me.”

The people of India simply don’t have access to the turf fields necessary to learn unique skills necessary for Olympic competition.

Unfortunately, a willingness to accept the concept of “privilege” is not something all people have. It’s often a religious or politically-based belief. If someone comes into this discussion and they firmly believe that every student is able to bootstrap themselves into Magna Cum Laude at Harvard, they’re not being positive or constructive, they’re just ignoring the problems. It’s much better to recognize the problems, prioritize them, and solve the ones that can be solved.

Hey! I’m pumped that you’re working on this stuff. I agree with all of the above suggestions. I’d also encourage you to dig deep into literature about white privilege and white antiracism (which goes beyond just valuing diversity). I love Tim Wise’s book “White Like Me”, as well as this YouTube clip that really paints a striking portrait of privilege and the myth of meritocracy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Xe1kX7Wsc

The age-old (but eternally awesome and effective) article on “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” is also super accessible for folks new to this convo. This link includes a variety of facilitation guides, suggested activities and additional resources: http://www.slcan.org/whiteness_handouts.pdf